starr



M.STARR. I SHBLVING CURTAIN.

No. 303,759. Patented Aug, 19, 1884.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

l M. STARR.

SHELVING CURTAIN. No. 303,759. Patented Aug. 19, 1884.

as Plump-P00575900? Washinglon. n. c

- the plane of the groove,

Nrrn STATES PATENT ricer...

MERRITT STARR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EUGENE M.EI-IRLIOH, OF SAME PLACE.

SHELVlNG-CURTAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 303,759, dated August19, 1884. Application filed May 31, 1884. (No model.)

T0 at whom it nwy concern.-

Be it known that I, MERRITT STARR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Shelving-Ourtain, on which I have obtained nopatent in this or any other country, and which, to my knowledge, has notbeen in public use or on sale in the United States for more than twoyears prior to this application, and I do not know and do not believethat the same was ever known or used prior to my invention thereof, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an attachment to shelving and book-cases, towit: the attaclr ment thereto of a curtain with fixtures and appliancesfor suspending and operating the same; and the objects of my inventionare, first, to provide a convenient and economical pro tection against.dust, dirt, sun, and exposure to air for books, dry-goods, and otherarticles keptinand upon shelves; and, second, to provide such means ofprotection in a formwhich will occupy the least space, and which can berolled up, so as not to obstruct the use of the shelves and theircontents. I attain these ob jects by the use of a curtain sliding orrunning in grooves upon the sides of the shelving or'of the book-case,and rolling up upon a spindle or roller at the top of the shelving orcase. This mechanism is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 represents the front elevation of a case of shelves orbookcase with the curtain partly unrolled. The lower part of the figurerepresents the shelving as uncovered. A seetional view of the right-handside is given in showing the curtain extending into thegroove. Fig. 2represents the outer side of the side piece or standard supporting suchshelving. Fig. 3 represents the interior of such vertical side piece,and shows the groove in which the curtain runs and the circulardepression in which the sock.- ets for the roller are set. It gives asectional view of the shelving, back, top, and cornice, and of theroller sustaining the curtain. Fig. 4 is an isometric perspectiveshowing the shelving with the curtain rolled up and part of the corniceremoved, showing the curtain rolled up on the roller.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.Figs. 1 and 2 are drawn on the scale of one inch to the foot, Fi 3 onthe scale of three inches to the foot, and Fi 4 on the scale of twoinches to the foot.

I-Ieretofore the protection of books in bookcases and of goods kept uponshelves against dust, dirt, and exposure to sun and air has been soughtby the use of glass doors or wooden or other doors. All such doorsseriously obstruct the use of a bookcase or shelvin They project intothe space in front of the bookcase or shelving and occupy a great dealof room. They impede access to the shelves and obstruct passage in frontof the shelves.

\Vhen book cases or shelves are placed in a continuous line, if doorsare used at all, sevcral sets of doors on successive panels orcornpartments of such case or shelving are necessary. Such doors onsuccessive panels open against each other, back to back, and occupy agreat deal of space in froilt of the shelves. When such doors are madeof glass, the glass is liable to constant breakage. This is especiallyso where glass doors are hung upon successive panels and open againsteach other. Thisliability to certain and repeated breakage of glassdoors is a source of great trouble, great expense, and physical dangerto the persons using book cases or shelving provided with such doors,and-such doors are an unavoidable obstruction to the use of such shelvesand cases to which they are attached.

My improvement is made as follows: I cause the vertical sides orstandard-pieces supporting the shelving and the vertical panel-standards where shelves orbook-cases are arranged in continuous panels toproject forward from the space occupied by the shelves. Near the frontof each vertical side piece, (see Fig. 3,) on the inner side thereof, agroove, (1, a, runs the whole length of each of such side pieces. At thetopof such side piece, and at the forward part thereof, a circulardepression, 0, is cut, ofsuch a depth as to allow the sockets'for thecurtain-roller to be set into the side piece to the same depth as thedepth of the groove. The top of the groove meets and enters into theouter edge of the circular depression. Into these depressions in thestandard-pieces, at each side of the shelves, are set the sockets whichsupport the spindle or roller 1). The top board of the ease or shelvingcomes out over the spindle, and the cornice m m covers the spindle andconceals it from view.

Instead of the depression of the depth of the groove the side pieces maybe cut clear through in circular orifices and neat blocks 0 0 be placedon the outside of the caseor side piece over the apertures so made, andinto these blocks the sockets to support the roller may be set. Thecurtain rolls up and unrolls from the roller or spindle b, and whenunrolled runs in the close-fitting grooves a a. When unrolled, as in theupper part of Fig. 1, the curtain fits closely in the close groove oneach side and entirely protects the books of such shelving from dust,dirt, sun, and exposure to sun and air. Vhen rolled up on the spindle b,as is shown in Fig. 4, the curtain is entirely removed from before theshelving, oceupies no space before the shelves, does not obstruct accessto the shelves nor free movement in front of the shelves.

The virtue of the invention consists in the fact that when unrolled thecurtain secures the advantages of a closed book-case orcupboard-shelvingto wit, complete protection to the contents againstdust, dirt, exposure to sun, moisture, and impurities in the airand whenrolled up it secures the economy of space, convenience of access to theshelves, freedom from expense by breakage of glass, and, inexpensivenessin construction of an open case or shelving without doors. It conibinesall the virtues of both styles of cases at the least cost.

The invention is applied to shelves or book cases placed in continuouspanels by cutting the groove on each side of the vertical panel piecesor supports for the shelves. The orifices for the rol ler-sockets arecut clear through or other contents the panel-pieces, and the twosockets are made together in one block.

I am aware that wooden slats sliding in grooves have been used ascurtains or blinds in horse-cars and street-cars, and as covers fordesks, but I am not aware that such curtains or covers have been usedupon shelves or book-cases.

I am aware that such wooden-slat curtains cannot be rolled up uponspindles, and I am not aware that slats used as curtains have ever beenused in any way upon book-cases or shelving, or that any practicable wayhas yet been used by which a curtain of slats can be adjusted uponshelves so as to give convenient access to such shelves; but I am alsoaware that I am now perfecting an invention by which such a wooden-slatcurtain and other curtains may be applied to book-cases and shelving bymeans of a combination of pulleys, and that I file a petition herewithfor a caveat for the protection of such invention.

WVhat I desire to claim, and secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. The curtain for shelving and book-cases sliding or running inclose-fitting grooves on the front of the casing or shelving, androlling upon a spindle, whether such curtain be of cloth, slats, orother material.

2. The devices containing the depressions, grooves, and orificesspecified in the foregoing specification, to wit: the grooves runninginto the depressions or orifices, and the depressions or orifices incombination with such grooves, by which the sockets supporting thecurtain or its spindle are set into the side pieecs, or supports of theshelving to such a depth as to permit the curtain running in suchgrooves to roll upon its spindle in the space opened by such depressionor orifice.

MERRITT STARR.

Vitnesses:

EUGENE M. ErIRLicH M. XV. STARR.

